


Winded

by givemeunicorns



Series: CritRole hurt/comfort Collection [3]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Empire Siblings - Freeform, Hurt Beauregard Lionett, Vulnerability
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-12-01 20:09:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20885267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/givemeunicorns/pseuds/givemeunicorns
Summary: Beau doesn't know how to let her guard down. Caleb knows how to cover the chinks in her armor.Whumptober day 3: Winded ( alternate prompt)





	Winded

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm not completely caught up with Crit Role and also I don't have a beta so if this is a mess it's wholly my fault!

It hurt to breath.

Beau shifted on her moorbound, arm pressed tight against her ribs. It wasn't the first time she'd broken them, not by a long shot, but there was something about the uneven gait about the massive creature under her and the sheer emptiness of the waste around them that seemed suck the fight out of her. She hated it. She hated feeling weak. Her whole life, Beauregard had prided herself on her ability to punch her way out of things. If you proved, right out of the gate, that you knew how to handle yourself, that you weren't afraid to throw you weight around, people were less likely to dick with you.

Caleb caught her tight motions and leaned back towards her.

“Are you alright?” He asked quietly.

No, she thought to herself.

“Why wouldn't I be?” she snapped, hoping he'd take the hint, turn around and leave her to feel like shit in peace, “Let's go.”

The wizard's face soured, a scowl that told her he was looking for a fight.   
“Now hold on a minute,” he shot back, “Do you want me to tell the others that we..”

“I'm FINE,” she cut him off, regretting the choice instantly, arm wrapping tight around her chest and cursed herself.

She hated the way Caleb's eyes lingered on her, she could feel them boring into her skin, looking for a weakness. She was supposed to take a beating and keep on going. She wasn't supposed to feel this winded, now when they were starring out into a vast field of nothing with no idea what could be waiting for them, no idea when they would need her to protect them. She knew, logically, that a single word would have sent Jester and Caucuses to her aid. But she couldn't show them her soft spots, the chinks in her armor. If she let them see her at her worst, if she let them see this body, her only weapon, as something fallible, how could they trust her to protect them when they needed her. Of course she'd take healing if it was offered, but she would die before she'd ask for it of them, to burn valuable magic because she wasn't tough enough to power through. So she settled on fixing Caleb with a venomous look and hoping her'd drop it. His mouth tightened and he turned about around on the moorbounder.

“You know, I'm not feeling so well,” he called to the group, “I'm might need to stop here.”

Beau blinked at the back of his head, watching Nott scramble to see what was wrong.

“I fell,” Caleb explained, eyes sliding to Beau, as if to apologize.

“You did?” Jester asked, concern in her voice, “Was it when I feel on you?”

“Yes, but it's not your fault. I'm very...,” the wizard gestured vaguely to his person.

“I didn't know you were so weak!”

“You didn't?”

“Jester, of course you know, he's very weak,” Nott sighed, looking Caleb over in her mothering way.

“I'm really sorry I jumped on you”

“My apologizes, would it be okay if we stopped here?”

The others conferred with nods and affirmations, Caducues's wide, pink eyes, seeking out the source of Caleb's injury from his own moorbounder. His eyes flickered to Beau, and look of knowing passing over his broad, placid face and he smiled at her. Perceptive bastard.

“We'll rest as short a time as possible and hopefully not be out in that...” he looked out at the harsh landscape awaiting them, “ Maybe we don't want to go through there for the first time at night?”

Fjord followed Caleb's spin easily.

“We can lock it down here, leave at first light,” the half orc agreed.

She forgot, sometimes, that while Caleb often struggled to connect with people, he was at times frighteningly good at moving them towards his wills. The moorbounders slowed to a halt and Caleb dismounted carefully, making a show of favoring his left shoulder. He caught her eye, and gave her the ghost of a smile, pulling out his book to create the hut.

“You know, you make vulnerability look so easy,” she said, passing close to him, as close as she could let herself get to a thank you.

He gave her a smile, small and private, a sense of understanding between them. Two broken empire kids, having each other's backs.

“It is,” he said quietly, and sat down to cast the hut while Beau let herself drop gracelessly into the sand.


End file.
